Dawg. Wednesday is featured on a new Weezer song. Rivers Cuomo and Karly Hartzman recorded a duet, with production by the guys who worked on Robyn and Geese's recent albums. That's a real thing that happened, and you can experience it for yourself today.
The song in question, "We Might As Well Be Strangers," is the new single from Weezer's latest self-titled, color-themed album, to be colloquially known as "The Gold Album." It's the one they recorded with Klas Åhlund (of Robyn fame) and Kenneth Blume (of Geese fame) after Show Me The Body brought the two producers together. (Show Me The Body explained the sequence of events to our own Tom Breihan at Kilby Block Party.) The album also features recent single "Shine Again," and it's dropping in August.
Weezer began with the four band members in a room, trying to make something happen together. Promo materials explain that this marks the first time Cuomo and drummer Pat Wilson have written the basics of a Weezer song together since their debut album, which is crazy to think about. (I guess Cuomo must prefer to work alone?) Blume reportedly aimed to make "the most violent Weezer album ever," forgoing click tracks and pitch correction, and though it's hard to imagine a Weezer album more violent-sounding than Pinkerton, I welcome his attempt.
You can hear some of that promised rawness in "We Might As Well Be Strangers," a breakup lament in which Cuomo and Hartzman portray lovers who've fallen apart. It's catchy, it rocks, and unlike so much of Weezer's post-Maladroit material, it might actually appeal to fans of the band's classic records. I'm not saying it belongs in the conversation with Blue or Pinkerton, but it would be a standout on most Weezer albums since. Hearing Hartzman on a Weezer track is so wild to me — like watching her graduate to a new level of rock stardom in real time — and she sounds right at home. "Is it still hedonism if you're feeling miserable?" is a bar.
Hear it for yourself below via director Jasper Graham's music video.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Say Yes"
02 "Shine Again"
03 "Don't Make It Weird"
04 "We Might As Well Be Strangers" (Feat. Wednesday)
05 "C.E.O."
06 "Hoops"
07 "Nowhere"
08 "The Show Must Go On"
09 "Up In The Clouds"
10 "The LA Sound"
Weezer ("The Gold Album") is out 8/21 on Reprise/Warner. Pre-order it here.
